3 ways to win print business on Twitter

Find out how Twitter can create valuable new printing clients for you

Isn’t Twitter all about posting what you had for lunch?

It’s a common view that Twitter is one of the more time-wasting social media channels. Users spend their whole time posting pointless personal updates that are of very little interest to anyone. It’s a complete waste of tie for business users.

Naturally it is easy to find users like this on Twitter. However, you will also find plenty of very worthwhile Twitter feeds. You will find that it’s a great way to sell printing services.

So can Twitter really win you worthwhile new business?

The answer is yes. But only for certain types of business. You are unlikely to win any work from large multi-nationals. However, it’s a great place to engage with small and medium-size businesses. Remember that most of these companies run their social media themselves. In addition, the medium sized companies often use someone from the marketing team. That’s exactly the sort of person many printing companies want to target!

Why should you use Twitter as part of your sales mix?

People that use Twitter have a great route to create relationships before they send an e-mail or pick up the phone. In many instances, your prospect will actually ask you to get in touch with them. This gives you a much better chance to control the sales process. You are more likely to achieve your sales targets.

Printing companies that rely solely on traditional sales methods will find it more difficult to achieve their targets. They will have missed the opportunity to use Twitter to create good relationships with new prospects.

Here are three ways to use Twitter to drive your print sales forward.

Engage with customers and prospects

Twitter is a way to be able to spread useful information to potential and current clients. In addition, it is easy to use the Twitter list feature to make sure you stay engaged with key contacts. You have the opportunity to review their feeds and communicate with them proactively.

This is a very effective way to build a relationship. The prospect does not have to take a call. They can respond very quickly. It is much more acceptable for you to communicate more often via Twitter. You have a better chance of staying in the front of their mind.

Find active new prospects using Twitter chats

Twitter chats are where communities of people come together to have a live discussion on Twitter. If you want to see an example of how Twitter chats work, do attend https://twitter.com/printchat It happens at 4pm ET (9pm UK time) every Wednesday. It’s a great source of engagement and inspiration for anyone in the print industry.

You should also attend Twitter chats where you will find good prospects. There are many Twitter chats that focus on local businesses in a particular geographic area. You can also find Twitter chats on specific market niches.

Drive people to your newsletter list

Every company should have a list that interested prospects can sign up to. Twitter is a great way to advertise the list and encourage people to sign up for it. I regularly remind people of my free resources and this drives new sign ups to my “Views From The Buyer” newsletter list.

So how does this work in practice?

I know of one printing company that states that Twitter is now their primary sales channel. That’s a bit extreme for most of us here. However, I recently had the honour of being a judge in the Print, Design & Marketing Awards. It was impressive to see how many printers are using Twitter to drive large amounts of sales.

What should you do to get ahead in Twitter?

Your goal should be to create an interesting Twitter feed for your clients and prospects. Just make sure you avoid tweeting about what you had for lunch!

==================================================================P.S. You can find out more about the best ways to gain profitable results from social media by downloading the free e-guide below.You’ll also be signed up to “Views from the buyer” where I share tips, stories and resources to do with selling print and social media.

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